An investigation into the phenomena and practices of spiritual ...

attempt to treat the person. This has changed slightly in recent years, although with somany specialist fields in medicine the concept of treating the whole person is incompetition with a scientific approach.These traditional conceptions determine the conceptualisation of the problems of ill-healthfor which spiritual healing may be sought. They are brought into the environment of thechurch activities as they have been described in this chapter.The environment is controlled by the church members under either a democratic orautocratic style of leadership which operates within a hierarchy of denominationalorganization as outlined in the tables in sections 4.8 and 4.9 above. There are similaritiesand differences in the way that the organizational activities are conducted. For exampleactivities are conducted more frequently at a local level and less frequently at the higherlevel for both churches. The local meetings are chaired by the local host minister whomake local decisions and enable the congregation/membership to follow decisions made athigher levels. All organizational activities are chaired by personnel specific to theorganization and the clergy. The URC however may elect personnel from either of theCongregational or Presbyterian traditions to chair the meeting at the top of the hierarchysuch as the general assembly or the international convention or conference. The GeneralAssembly and the International Conference have similar functions in both churches. Theyengage the membership in making decisions to be carried out by all the churchesinternationally. These decisions may be subjected to local/ cultural interpretations. Bothchurches often invite guest speakers such as politicians, senior health personnel or otherrepresentatives to any of their meeting. Each church has its own levels of organizationalactivities within which power and authority operate, as discussed in the next chapter.147